


Payphone

by FullElven



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-01
Updated: 2013-05-01
Packaged: 2017-12-10 02:10:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/780571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FullElven/pseuds/FullElven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel has called Dean at every stop the Greyhound bus has made, but will he ever actually hang on the line long enough for him to answer? Placed post-8x17. Story idea credit goes to TheKingsLover for pitching it on Tumblr and tossing it about with me for a bit!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Payphone

The receiver felt cold pressed against the warm, calloused hand of Castiel, and the angel couldn’t help but to wrinkle his nose for how the phone booth smelled of stale urine and pennies. Loose change jingled in the pocket of his tan trench coat as he reached within to retrieve the fair needed for a phone call.

Human currency. In a world where nothing was free, Castiel had been surprised about how much loose change he found littered on the ground in various places all over. Thanks to Sam’s patience—and Dean’s persistence that Sam show him—the rogue angel had little problem discerning just how much of the coin he needed to place a call, nor did he have any problem remembering the number to dial.

He’d dialed it in every city that Greyhound bus had taken him to thus far. He’d also managed to hang up before anyone had answered each time it began to ring through.

The events played back through his head more often than he would like, some moments clearer than others. He could still feel the sensation of dense bone cracking beneath his fist, the warmth of the blood spray, the scent of copper and sweat. Mostly he could remember how he felt nothing, how he couldn’t stop. Just one sickening blow after another, and he could only watch on, detached.

He could remember the look of those green eyes as he hit him. That trust he held like he knew he couldn’t kill him, that faith that he had that he could hear him. But it was what he heard, when Dean _prayed_ that stayed his hand. It wasn’t those parts that made the living with the past hard, it was the whimper, the flinch, the fear when Castiel reached to heal him.

_“I hurt you, Dean. You were right to be fearful of me. You needed me, and I failed you. I’m sorry.”_

“Hello?!” The voice on the other end sounded annoyed, and the angel suddenly realized that he’d forgotten to hang up the phone before he could answer. The gravel in his voice, the grogginess, he could only guess that he’d woken him up. Was it night where ever he was? No…that’s not right. Sleeping during the middle of the afternoon? That sounded more likely.

Castiel opened his mouth to speak, but all he could hear was Dean’s voice from that night played within his head. “We need you. _I_ need you.” Words wouldn’t form, and he could hear the exasperated breath on the other end.

“Hey, Jerkwad. If you’re going to prank call someone in the middle of the day, drop the heavy breathing, it’s a little too Hey Arnold. I’m not your Helga.”

Just like that, the line clicked dead with a tone of finality to it that let Cas know that Dean was no longer there. An ache seeped from the seemingly endless void that had formed in the center of his chest since he’d left him there. A yearning for something that he couldn’t quite comprehend, nor did he know if whatever it was that he needed existed.

He missed Dean, but human logic would dictate that he would be upset with Cas, maybe he’d even hate him. He shouldn’t want anything to do with the angel, and because of that, the dark-haired celestial took it as a small victory in just hearing his voice again.

Of all things in the universe that Castiel knew to be true, one thing remained so above all the rest. Dean Winchester was not an ordinary human being, and many times their laws of logic did not apply to him. If he didn’t hate him, Castiel knew that Dean should. He had told Dean that he had to protect the angel tablet from the demons, and from him. What he meant was, he needed to protect the tablet from the demons, but he needed to protect Dean from him.


End file.
